Handling stations of this type are known, for example, from DE-A 41 16 708. They contain a lever arrangement or link-arm arrangement which is framework-mounted above a horizontal base plate and is in the form of a drive lever which can be pivoted by a drive apparatus for producing pivot movements of the bottom part of the drive lever substantially in the direction of the push-in movement. Arranged on the bottom part of the drive lever are pivotable fingers which are prestressed downwards by spring means and of which the outer ends rest on the base plate, and are pushed forwards thereon during an operating stroke and, during a return stroke, are raised off together from the base plate by means of a control guide arrangement.
In order, then, that the pivotable fingers, articulated at the drive-lever end, reliably rest on the base plate, or in grooves provided therein, even at high cycle speeds of the inserter, and in order to avoid the situation where the outer finger ends, which are to be positioned on the trailing edge of the inserts for the envelopes, do not miss said trailing edge of the conveyable articles, attempts have been made to move the point at which the fingers of the inserter are articulated on the link-arm arrangement, that is to say at the bottom end of the drive lever in the case of the apparatus according to DE-A41 16 708, approximately horizontally over the base plate in as uniform a manner as possible, for which reason the length of the drive lever of the known apparatus from the framework-mounted point of articulation above the base plate to the point of articulation for the fingers is selected to be as large as possible, in order that, when the drive lever pivots, the bottom drive-lever end describes the largest possible, virtually rectilinear arc of a circle. In known apparatuses of this type, this requires the apparatus as a whole to be of a comparatively large overall height.
Attempts have been made to reduce the overall height of a handling station or of an inserter of the type described in general terms above by using a linear drive mechanism for the movement of the pivot mounting of the fingers over the base plate. Designs of this type do advantageously result in a reduction in the overall height of the apparatus, but they render a handling station or an inserter quite considerably more expensive, in particular when high cycle speeds are desired.